Pyrophoric lighter



PYROPHORIC LIGHTER Filed June 23, 1957 /7. Bubs/( Patented Jan. 23, 1940 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE,

Application June 23, 1937, Serial No. 149,955 In Austria July 3, 1936 1 Claim.

This invention relates to pyrophoric pocket lighters of the type in which the fuel container is provided with a wick extending clear thereof and with an aperture for the introduction of the fuel.

It has already been proposed to utilize the aperture through which the wick tube leaves the fuel container, as the opening through which the fuel is introduced into the container, and it has 10 also been proposed to insert in this aperture a filling well extending into the interior of the fuel container and surrounding the wick tube with clearance, the bottom of this well being perforated to admit the fuel into the container, while a further venting aperture is provided at the 15 upper edge of the well for the escape of the air displaced by the entering fuel. In the known forms of construction of this latter type the wick tube and the well may consist of one single piece of material, or be formed integrally with each 20 other, and adapted to be removably inserted into the aperture at the top of the fuel container.

According to the present invention the-re is disposed in the aperture in the top' of the fuel container a resilient element, and preferably a oonvolute or tapered helical spring, which serves the dual purpose of holding the wick and enabling fuel to be poured past the wick, through the said aperture, into the container, the fuel 30 being in practice partly absorbed and transmitted into the interior of the container by the wick itself and partly poured between the wick and the aperture wall through the said resilient element.

A form of construction embodying the invention is shown, by way of example, in the accompanying drawing, in which:

Fig. l is a section taken on the line I-I of Fig. 3.

Fig. 2 is a side elevation, and

Fig. 3 a plan view.

Referring to the drawing, the fuel container 1), which is filled with wadding a, is provided at the top with a beaded extension or neck d having a 5 peripheral groove e in which the lowermost and largest turn of a convolute or tapered helical spring 1 is fitted, the smaller turns of which spring embrace the end of the wick projecting beyond the top 0 of the container. The wick is m denoted by g in the drawing. In this manner the end of the wick is held in its proper position.

The large turn of the spring is preferably held fast in the groove e by its own inherent elasticity (snapped in), so that the spring I may readily be detached from the container 1) and replaced when required. The extension or neckd forms a seating for the conventional wick cap h provided for example on the lid of the lighter.

I claim:

In a pyrophoric lighter, a fuel container having only a single aperture in the top wall thereof, a neck surrounding the said aperture and projecting above the top wall of said container and provided with an annular groove on its inner surface, a wick of relatively small diameter with respect to the aperture positioned within the said container and extending through the said aperture and neck and projecting beyond the container, and a helical spring having convolutions larger at one end than at the other and having its largest convolution seated in the groove in the neck and its smallest convolution embracing the said wick for the purpose of holding said wick concentrically of said aperture and neck, and as allowing the'filling of the container with fuel without lifting the element or wick.

ARTHUR DUBSKY. 

